Alt.religion.scientology is a Usenet newsgroup where Scientology is discussed. The 'Church' of Scientology hates it and has tried to have it closed down by legal threats, issuing 'rmgroup' messages, fake cancels for messages that quote such things as the famous 'six lines' from the Operating Thetan 'secret scriptures'.

"OT7-48 1. Find some plants, trees, etc., and communicate to them individually until you know they received your communication.

2. Go to a zoo or a place with many types of life and communicate with each of them until you know the communication is received and, if possible, returned."

And for months, Scientologists tried to make the group unuseable by posting hundreds of messages a day of quotations from their coffee-table book "What is Scientology", then by a flood of "sporgeries", which involved replacing the contents of real messages with computer-generated gibberish. Tory Bezazian was one of the Scientologists used by Scientology's "Office of Special Affairs'" to post thousands of off-topic messages to alt.religion.scientology. Although she had been in Scientology for 30 years, and had reached the dizzy heights of OTVII, even being featured in "What is Scientology" contact with critics soon persuaded her that it was the Scientologists who were the closed-minded ones, and she left Scientology.

Alt.religion.scientology carries first-hand accounts from victims of scientology:
" I was locked in a wire room in the basement of the Hollywood Inn in 1975 I was held in a room under house arrest and gaurded at Ft Harrisson in Clearwater in 76 I swear this is true" - Arnie Lerma

" I was held a prisoner, inside such a wire cage in the basement of the Fort Harrison Hotel, in Clearwater, Florida, under 24 hour guard, for 10 days, in 1979, for making a f~cking joke about the Rehabilitation Project Force workcamp re-education program. And I swear this is true. Additionally, I will not soon be forgiving slimetology for this. You can take that to the bank, poodleboy" - Rev. Dennis L Erlich